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SANTA CRUZ CALIFORNIA – The inspirational story of how X Trash collector Chris Rene ended up as ONE of the lucky 17 finalists on Fox’s new talent show “The X Factor” .

Rene, a talented singer who had been working as a Santa Cruz un-motivated trash collector, was walking down the street one day when he spied a front-page story in the local newspaper on the success of another singer, Santa Cruzan James Durbin, on Fox’s “American Idol.”

“I saw that and I was, like, ‘Oh my God!’” said Rene in a telephone interview Wednesday. “I just said to myself, ‘Look at what this guy is doing? What are you doing with your life, Chris?’”

Rene will be among 16 other musical acts to compete in a live show on Tuesday on “The X Factor,” the new show created by former “American Idol” judge Simon Cowell.

The same day he saw the Durbin story in the Sentinel, he said, he visited his older sister, Gina Rene, also a singer, and announced to her that he was going to audition for “American Idol.” The problem was that, at 28, Rene was in danger of missing the age limit of 16 to 28 on “Idol.” A week later, Gina Rene received an audition notice from “The X Factor,” which has no age limit.

“So she says, ‘You and I are both going to do this,’” said Chris Rene. “So, yeah, Durbin was the reason I ended up on ‘The X Factor.’”

Tuesday, viewers of “The X Factor” watched as Rene impressed judge L.A. Reid and pop superstar Rihanna enough that they agreed to allow to go forward in the competition.

It’s all been a storybook experience of Rene, who did his auditions last summer shortly after getting out of rehab. Rene’s struggle to maintain his sobriety has been an ongoing theme of his stint on “The X Factor.”

“It’s just surreal,” he said from Los Angeles where he is staying while competing on the show. “I did not think that this was going to unfold the way it unfolded.”

Gina Rene was also part of the show and performed with her brother on Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” before she was eliminated.

Rene first began playing music in punk bands at age 12. He comes by music from a rich family background. His grandfather was Leon Rene, who wrote the classic song “Rockin’ Robin,” recorded by the Jackson 5, among others. And his father was Googie Rene, a soul/jazz singer and songwriter who led the Googie Rene Combo (“Wham Bam”) in the 1950s and ’60s.

His brothers Mike and Gabriel are also musicians.

Chris Rene said that he has worked to maintain his sobriety in the weeks that he’s been on the show. He left rehab about five months ago.

“It’s been good. I love recovery. I got a sponsor and ‘The X Factor’ has let me be myself about it. They give me time to go to meetings and everything.”

Rene is still hoping to go deeper on “The X Factor,” stoked by the example set by James Durbin.

Rene said that he was in his last week at a rehab center near Twin Lakes Beach in Santa Cruz when the phenomenon of Durbin Day consumed Santa Cruz in May.

“I remember standing outside drinking coffee,” he said, “and we could hear the concert going on that day. And I was just listening to that show and I wanted to be part of something like that.”

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